They met in the middle, on a red carpet, dozens of cameras recording their every move as the world watched.

He said he was pinning his hopes on the youthful age of the North Korean leader, who is in his mid-thirties and seems ready “to change his position”.

That was sure to rattle close allies South Korea and Japan.

“I think without him, this whole thing wouldn’t have happened because it crystallized when he came back in that condition”, Trump said.

If he was forced to negotiate by US pressure, it certainly wasn’t obvious.

In a separate dispatch KCNA also reported that Kim received a letter from Singapore’s Prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, praising the “successful conclusion of the historic summit” between Kim and Trump. Prior to North Korea’s release of the three American prisoners last month, Trump used Warmbier to appear confident they would return.

KCNA also asserted Trump had “expressed his intention” to lift sanctions against the North – something the United States president had told a blockbuster press conference would happen “when we are sure that the nukes are no longer a factor”. It’s illegal to show the North Korean flag in the South.

North Korea and South Korea have technically been at war since the 1950s, with no comprehensive peace agreement after a 1953 armistice and the division of the peninsula into two nations.

As of Tuesday morning, U.S. Forces in Korea are still moving ahead with plans for the annual exercise known as Ulchi Freedom Guardian.

The liberal Hankook Ilbo newspaper marvelled that the USA president didn’t shake hands in the usual “Trump way” of domineering his counterpart.

“They will meet and look at the nitty gritty of what it means to take away all nuclear armaments in North Korea and basically stop all military operations with South Korea”, political scientist Donald Cuccioletta said, warning to approach the meeting with caution.

“I remember hovering around the delivery room the day my daughter was born”.

Is there anything you have seen in the joint statement that suggests progress beyond the 1993 U.S.

From the start of their meeting, Trump showered Kim with praise, calling him a “talented man” who “loves his country very much”.

Meanwhile, Trump recapped his Tuesday meeting with Kim in a series of tweets in which he boasted about his relationship with Kim, saying he “got along great” with the North Korean leader. Kim’s image would now be bolstered, critics said. “Kim Jong-un got it all, for actually doing nothing”.

Tweeting from the presidential plane, which just landed in Hawaii to refuel on the trip back from Singapore, Trump wrote, “There is no limit to what NoKo can achieve when it gives up its nuclear weapons and embraces commerce & engagement w/ the world”. North Korean scientists’ achievements with nuclear bombs and intercontinental missiles played a part, but the unsung scientific masters were the Singaporeans. About 37,000 United States troops died, with 5,300 still unaccounted for in North Korea.